Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[Gilatrout]

Gilatrout Gman was almost correct...... no tear but rather a big gleaming grin - WELL DONE. :clap:
You are as far as I've seen are only the second one ( I was first ) to actually do the -2D drone controller Tigercat with rear operator and not take the lackluster effort by just painting the bird the gold/blue color scheme

Thank you.

It got a lot of attention at the field yesterday. Not many knew about the drone control version.

The second cockpit was more of a challenge than I thought. Well, that was mostly my fault. I made my task much more difficult by building up the canopy with random cuts of foam instead of identical strips on each side. I still have a bit of work to do before I'm satisfied, but it was a near perfect day for it to get outside.

I also challenged myself to try and paint on most of the markings. That technique is still developing. Basically I cut paint masks out of cellophane on my cricut machine. I ended up using a mix of the original decals and paint.

I've made a crude 3d printable mock-up of the drone. I may someday refine it for static display. Probably not, but it is there in the back of my mind scratching away.

Anyway, this is my second Tigercat conversion. My Avatar is the first one. I do love flying this plane.

I need to find someone with fabric skills to make wing bags now.

[OV10]

Gilatrout Gman was almost correct...... no tear but rather a big gleaming grin - WELL DONE. :clap:
You are as far as I've seen are only the second one ( I was first ) to actually do the -2D drone controller Tigercat with rear operator and not take the lackluster effort by just painting the bird the gold/blue color scheme

[Grossman56]

Gilatrout, it looks great, you'll bring a tear to Charlie Brown's(OV-10) eye.

Grossman56

[Gilatrout]

I was really hoping I could get this ready in time for the contest, but life intervened. I do like how it came out. I still have some minor work to do.

[Gilatrout]

Check to make sure the screws holding the props on don't poke through the hub. If they do, grind them flat with a Dremel or something then add the adapter. The screw heads poking though can be just enough to create a gap in the adapter.to allow the main screw to pull through the plastic.

[Denniswpb]

Does anyone have issues with the prop hubs breaking where the screw head tightens? No matter how careful I seem to be when tightening the props, I find the prop hub breaks internally which allows the prop to slide off the prop adapter. I just put a new one on today and this time put a light coat of epoxy over the area that always breaks. We'll see if that holds up better. Hate that just a small piece of plastic inside the hub is all that holds the prop on!

[Grossman56]

She's a Beaut' CB! Speaking of five years ago, check out "Bits and Pieces" on the Official Flightline Bearcat thread. Remember the Bearcat I lost the previous year? Well, she will see air time again this season.

Grossman56

[OV10]

Grossman56

Dan, Hard to believe that event was 5 years ago already and yes, the original and only -2D drone controller Tigercat modeled was consumed in the infamous fleet reduction incinerator event (garage fire) a year later.
Thanx for digging that pic out of the Di archives.
But as you know the phoenix arose from the ashes as the bigger Cat (FMS) fashion in Jan2020.

PS.... Gilatrout , the Flightline 1200 Bearcat canopy is the correct way to go as it looks you are doing. That is exactly what I used for both birds, full one on the FMS and cut down version on the FL.
And for those that may care about the history, the Navy actually used the Bearcat canopy when they modded the Tigercat into the drone -2D bird.

[Grossman56]

The wife took some pictures of OV10 (Charlie Brown's) Tigercat with the spare cockpit,



Ryan Ramsay's in the foreground and me and La Patron in the back.
Sadly, two of these birds are no longer with us, I'm not sure about Ryan's.

Grossman56

[nuts-n-volts]

OMG! What are you doing to my cat! :stuck_out_tongue_wi

[Gilatrout]

Picked up a spare tigercat last month. In between snow storms I've managed to get everything painted. Working on the spare cockpit now. If it warms up I'll stencil and paint the stars and bars on the wings.

[marwady]

Home Depot paint codes, looking like a spot on match.

[marwady]

Not quite enough room for the 6s setup. I would have to do some serious carving and I don't want to weaken the airframe.

Does anyone have paint codes for the Tigercat?

Home Depot latex works great for touch-up on the P-38 and B24.

Cheers

[rifleman_btx]

You will really love it! It's an amazing flying aircraft

[marwady]

Hello and Merry Christmas to all!!

Santa just dropped my F7F off and I had a chance to inspect it.

Everything is perfect as I would expect from Flighline and MRC.

I own the Flightline P-38 and it's one of my favorite flyers.
I've converted it to 6s by simply dropping the prop diameter by 1". It hits all the safe numbers in amps and watts and flys like a dream.

I did this because I have many 6s batteries.

The Tiger Cat has the same motors and ESCs so I am thinking it will be fine. CG will be the only thing and I won't know that until I get it assembled.

I will probably maiden with a 4s setup and then go from there.

Stay tuned for this hopefully successful experiment

[Gilatrout]

I upgraded the motors and kept the 3 bladed props. I could get away with it only because the altitude kept the draw down, but it was close to the edge of what the motors could handle. I honestly didn't see that much of an improvement and a minor prop strike could over current and burn out the motor. I went back to the original setup after a few while.

That said everything would be different if I had used the 2 bladed props. I'm sure I would have seen a much bigger improvement without the current problems. But the scale monkey on my back would never permit anything but a three bladed prop on my tiger cat

[Evan D]

Let me add that just swapping the stock prop to a APCe 2 bladed prop significantly improves performance. You'd probably want a bit more pitch on the prop due to the stock motors lower kV. As an example on the Spitfire 1200mm I went from the stock to a 12x12 APCe and got a lot of performance. The TC has a similar motor to that and would probably do well with the same 12x12. If you do it I would check A's with a watt meter to make sure you are not going too high with the 60A ESC. I used a pair of the TC motors and 12x12 also in this plane. When I did it I used 100A ESCs I had laying around. I think they pull right at 60A max on a fresh charge.


.

[Larry D]

Same answer now... While I didn't do it the reasons are valid. The stock system works very well and the scale(ish) prop looks good so why change... If you need the extra power because you live in a higher altitude or something where it makes sense to do it then it may be worth it to you. As far as ESCs you shouldn't need more A's especially if you are at higher altitude where you normally pull less.

Totally agree Evan and thanks for the response. I love the way my Cat flies but the question came up at our field the other day and because I have zero experience with "sport" systems, I had to ask. For me I love both the scale look and stock performance.

[Evan D]

Same answer now... While I didn't do it the reasons are valid. The stock system works very well and the scale(ish) prop looks good so why change... If you need the extra power because you live in a higher altitude or something where it makes sense to do it then it may be worth it to you. As far as ESCs you shouldn't need more A's especially if you are at higher altitude where you normally pull less.

[Larry D]

Back in 2018 Baron asked the question about the sport power system. I never saw an answer for that. Has anyone tried it and is it worth it? A step from a 600kv to an 880kv and changing the prop from a 3 blade to a 2 "sounds" as if it would improve the performance but is the increase in performance worth the cost in flight time/battery life. IF anyone has tried it, what did/do you think? Worth it? Also is it a "drop in" or are additional mods necessary to components such as the ESC? Enquiring minds (or in my case a dumb mind) want to know before plopping down the money.